JLL has analysed the Q3 2016 quality hotels market in the Sochi coastal and mountain clusters. “In the middle of the year we said that the historically beloved Russian summer destination has been doing very well so far, notwithstanding the huge additional inventory – post-math of the Olympic games of 2014. Now September has marked the ending of the 2016 vacation season, and it is clear, that 2016 will be a year to be proud of, for this market,” said Tatiana Veller, Head of JLL Hotels & Hospitality Group, Russia & CIS.
Exemplary performances of both of the main clusters – downtown/sea and mountains – has extended past the calendar summer, and the month of September saw 63 percent of rooms occupied in the mountains, and 71 percent by the sea. Demand in the velvet season was supported by tourist groups, including some Asian travellers and MICE visitors.
“This gave the prices for accommodation stability, especially on the coast: there in September quality hotels sold rooms at average price of RUB 11,300, which is about the level for three summer months (RUB 11,900),” said Tatiana Veller. “September in the mountains was also not an exception in terms of the stability of ADR: from May the average price for a room here fluctuates around RUB 3,000, and it was 2,800 roubles in the first month of autumn.”
Year to date January through September, the occupancy in mountain cluster grew by 18 p.p. compared to last year and reached 57 percent, and with a 17 percent growth in ADR (to RUB 5,250), RevPAR bit the last year’s number by a whopping 70 percent (to RUB 3,000)!
Market players on the shore also didn’t fail to reap the benefits of the new travel patterns of the Russian consumers, and added 9 p.p. to the Q3 YTD Occupancy index vs. 2015 (resulting in 54 percent of room stock being sold), and the very healthy growth of 40 percent in the ADR (reaching RUB 10,300 per night). As a result, RevPAR grew to RUB 5,500.
“Now Sochi hoteliers are facing the mid-season – from now until the snow falls and ski tracks open in December, it should be a quiet time by the Black Sea. The professional operators, especially of the higher category hotels, are looking forward to the potential casino opening in Gorky Gorod in the beginning of January, hoping to receive incremental guest flows from that,” Tatiana Veller concluded.